None.
This invention relates in general to an improved fast assembly hinge for hinging two elements together for movement relatively of each other and relates in particular to such a hinge for supporting the cover of a vertically mounted dispenser having a wall-mounting plate or back plate and a cover movable between open and closed positions.
There are a wide number of dispensers for various products known in the art. One particular type of such a dispenser is designed to be mounted on a wall or other vertical surface and includes a back plate or wall-mounting plate and a cover which is hinged at one end to one end of the back plate and intended to be movable between open and closed positions. These dispensers generally will contain, on the back plate, a removable cartridge or refill package of some sort which will contain the material intended to be dispensed from the dispenser.
There are a number of various hinge arrangements known in the art, and in most of the prior art, the cover is hinged to the back plate by snapping the two elements together at the point of hinged connection.
The major disadvantage of this arrangement is that dispensers of this type tend to be found in every industrial and commercial facility and, as such, they sustain a significant range of abuse when they are installed. This can be a serious problem in the field in that the cover or the hinge or both can sustain severe damage even to the extent of making the dispenser unusable.
The problem with the current known designs are that the snap together forces are quite high because the snap is all that holds the hinged components together. For example, when one is routinely replacing a spent container or cartridge with a new, full one the procedure is simply to swing the cover to the open position, remove and discard the old, empty container or cartridge, insert the new full one and close the cover. In performing this function it is common to rest the new, full container or cartridge on the open cover while removing the old one. Thus, a common hinge robustness test would be to place a full refill cartridge or container on the cover to see if that causes the hinge to break or come apart. This test replicates what often happens in the field where the individual refilling the container will rest the refill cartridge on the cover in its open position while removing the spent cartridge and it has been found that the usual known hinge will frequently come apart or even break.
Accordingly, it is felt desirable to provide a hinge assembly which is quite easy to assemble when the dispenser per se is assembled, but yet which is strong enough to resist the major forces that the hinge will typically see in use.
In accordance with the above-noted object, it has been found that such a fast assembly yet durable hinge assembly can be provided by providing hinge barrels carried by the cover which receive hinge pins carried by the back plate. The hinge pins are designed to snap into the barrels along their longitudinal axes and, in practice, the weight of the forces normally encountered are borne by the hinge pins.
It has further been found that if the hinge barrels and hinge pins can be arranged horizontally, then the length of the hinge pins and the barrels provide support along the axis of the hinging movement as contrasted to the snap together designs of the prior art.